Prediction of the Tertiary Structure of Apolipoprotein A-II by Computer Modeling

Abstract

The lack of information about the tertiary structure of apolipoproteins as well as the absence of precise description at the molecular level of specific lipid-protein binding sites have prevented until now a deep understanding of the different events taking place during the metabolism of lipoproteins. The determination of the tertiary structure of apolipoproteins using X-Ray diffraction analysis was not yet possible due to the failure in obtaining crystalline material. In this paper, we want to point out the possibility to obtain detailed structural informations about apolipoproteins using computer modeling, including conformational energy calculations and search for sequence analogies with proteins of known tertiary structure.